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Topic: The 99% (Read 21691 times)

Well the mayor of Portland is well different. To each his own, but I feel that much of his wishy washy is due to his lifestyle preferences. I am trying to be very polite, but it really is clear in listening to him speak, and he is open about it.

hope your son stays away also, but it might be an eye opening lesson for him if he goes.

you know, it's less who he sleeps with. that's portland. at least they weren't the town the hired the cross-dresser as mayor :-D it's what he did with the kid! i don't understand how he got away with that. if he'd done the same with a young girl, they would have booted him. i guess it's ok to be a pedifile if you are gay?

i'm just glad i don't live there. Gresham sent OP a bill for the damage done to two of their cars that were parked downtown. cops were in town for a court case and came out to find the cars messed up.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

I cant imagine having the time to waist do demonstrate. I have always believed that those who collect unemployment for over a certain period of time should begin community service. Whats wrong with earning your check?

I have never collected unemployment in my life. Unless your employer shuts the doors or you are unionized, its the lazy ones who get the the free ride. If they enroll in school, they can get grants and extended unemployment, free cell phones, ........

When the economy took a dive they laid half our production employees off. Most of them were there longer than I had been. I got a pat on the back saying dont worry, you wont be affected by the lay offs. Next day the rest of us got our hours cut from 40 to 32 (not affected, lol). Yes I could have claimed the one day but I was worried that if I lost my job I would not be able to collect full unemployment as long. So the lazy scum got to go home and suck down beers and make just as much as us with the cut back hours or even more. To add insult to injury unemployment just kept getting extended. And if that was not bad enough, we got swamped at work and in the rush almost all of them got hired back because of the long learning curve needed to run our equipment. Then we got to hear them start crying about how they were over worked and underpaid........ These are the 99% that are out there now, Im sure of it.

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The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory

I'm a retired Police Chief. I have a son who just came home from his fifth tour in Iraq. I have a daughter who just got back from serving in the middle east. My father was a prisoner of war in Germany and escaped to rejoin his unit to get back into the fight.

I loved it when President Obama killed Bin Laden. I also loved it when he killed the other terrorist idiot that was a traitor to our country as well.

I was among the 99% protest in San Francisco along side laid off teachers, firefighters, construction workers, cops and utility workers and I was very proud to be there.

I agree with much of the 'apparent' cause, greed by big business and bank bail outs, but I do not agree that individuals should come under fire. The group lost public interest after the first week, when it was realized it was destroying businesses near the encampments and that the encampments were attracting the dregs of the homeless and society. Drug issues became rampant. Human waste everywhere, you could smell it from a mile away if you were down wind.

Portland police did an awesome job of sneaking up on them and having a peaceful resolution to the event. Only one police officer got hurt and none of the demonstrators. Enough is enough, time to move on, we have an election in the future and that is where they should put their energies if they want to change things.

Frankly I am beginning to think we need to clean house, senate, and the white house completely, put in all rookies, people like us, people who won't vote to give themselves special and different percs than everyone else. Sameness without socialism.

BlevinsBees, there's nothing wrong with making your voice heard. we have not only a right to speak up, but a duty. you and i may differ on what we protest, but i don't have any problem with people standing up when they feel the need.

there is a difference, and you know it better than most, between exercising our right to speech and assembly, and civil disobedience. we might engage in civil disobedience when we feel our cause if righteous, but we are not excused from the consequences when we make that choice.

as jack pointed out, to many of these groups have moved from protest to criminal behavior. in addition, they have cost those of us who DO pay taxes, 100's of thousands of dollars. millions of dollars over the entire country.

so...a few people with a good complaint, and thousands with their heads up their backside and their hands out for stuff, cost all of us the use of our parks, millions of dollars in damage and security cost, women were raped, people were killed..... the communists and socialist got some new recruits.....and wall street still stands.

you never were protesting against the right people, or protesting in the right place.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

I have never collected unemployment in my life. Unless your employer shuts the doors or you are unionized, its the lazy ones who get the the free ride. If they enroll in school, they can get grants and extended unemployment, free cell phones, ........

When the economy took a dive they laid half our production employees off. Most of them were there longer than I had been. I got a pat on the back saying dont worry, you wont be affected by the lay offs. Next day the rest of us got our hours cut from 40 to 32 (not affected, lol). Yes I could have claimed the one day but I was worried that if I lost my job I would not be able to collect full unemployment as long. So the lazy scum got to go home and suck down beers and make just as much as us with the cut back hours or even more. To add insult to injury unemployment just kept getting extended. And if that was not bad enough, we got swamped at work and in the rush almost all of them got hired back because of the long learning curve needed to run our equipment. Then we got to hear them start crying about how they were over worked and underpaid........ These are the 99% that are out there now, Im sure of it.

Well your view of unemployment certainly doesn't match mine. I've had the doors closed on me - more than I care to discuss. Unemployment NEVER came close to matching the wages I'd been earning, and the "State" kept me jumping through friggin hoops almost enough that I had trouble some weeks getting to interviews. "Suckin down beers" definitely wasn't on the menu. I hate looking for work - but "living on the dole" is worse. But unemployment is insurance that I paid the premiums for, as does the employers. Now welfare is a WHOLE 'nother can-o-worms. I almost got to the point once to try that - just to keep the children fed - but I was told (and I quote) "You once made too much money to qualify, and quite frankly, you're the wrong color." Un frickin quote.

But demonstrating was also not on the menu, and the companies that I'd worked for were in about as bad shape as I was. Why would I think they might "owe" me something is simply beyond my imagination.

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The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.- Marcus Aurelius -

But unemployment is insurance that I paid the premiums for, as does the employers.

true enough, but somewhere between week 1 and week 99, insurance runs out and welfare begins.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

Vibe, I do not mean to bundle all up in one category and I dont believe I came across that way. I think unemployment insurance is a good thing and is a god send when or if it happens that you need to collect it. I apologize for getting excited about the issue because I dont blame those who have not been able to find employment (actually looking) for collecting it as long as they can. I have however personally seen friends, family, and others take advantage of it, intentionally dragging their feet in order to stay on the free train ride. I have heard to many speak of how to keep the train going. One example is attending school. I have a family member who did not graduate high school and was able to collect unemployment for years, ( I dont remember how long for sure but it was over two years). How did he do it? He was a student! What kind of student? He was attending the classes to brush up on the skills needed to pass his G.E.D. tests. Did he get his G.E.D.? No. Did he attend school? Yes if you count three or four days a month for a half hour or more each visit! This is one story, I could tell you a few more off the top of my head.

I think a little job finding incentive is in order to help some of the feet dragging folk. After 3 months of benefits, community service wont hurt anyone. Funny thing is our parks and recreation budgets are lacking among many other things. We have a serious deficit problem and those who have no excuses why they cant provide community service while collecting unemployment should be happy to help save their own tax dollars while proudly helping their community.

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The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory

I like that idea, if you are going to be on unemployment, you need to do a certain number of community service hours every WEEK to get your check. Heck that could even be carried further and folks like me on SS could be a crossing guard one morning a week or afternoon. Would do us good to see the future generation.

I think a little job finding incentive is in order to help some of the feet dragging folk. After 3 months of benefits, community service wont hurt anyone. Funny thing is our parks and recreation budgets are lacking among many other things. We have a serious deficit problem and those who have no excuses why they cant provide community service while collecting unemployment should be happy to help save their own tax dollars while proudly helping their community.

If it is another way of locating contacts toward finding work, I'm all for it. If it's just more "busy work" to "motivate" people to get off the unemployment - it only get's in the way of the efforts to find work and is counterproductive.

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The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.- Marcus Aurelius -

I mentioned the guy that didn't want a job out of his "industry field". He has been on unemployment since June of 2010. By his own admission he revealed that he had found jobs locally but, and I quote him, he responded "I can make more money drawing unemployment."!!! He's definitely not a team player when it comes to trying to patch up the problems of this country, but he's definitely part of the 99%. Interestingly, I'm a small business owner and he was in my store...he never asked me for a job. :-x Yelp, I'd say that he's part of the 99%.

As for the community service idea, it's GREAT!!! I've been thinking along those lines for years...include a LARGE portion of those drawing "disability checks" and "welfare" checks with it. It's bovine patties that it would get in the way of looking for work. It might even be a good way for the unemployed to stay in touch with the employment agencies and potential employers. If nothing else, the unemployed could work three days a week for 10 hours a day...that'd only be 30 hours. It might encourage some of them to take a job out of their "industry fields". Even doing the community service for 3 days they'd still have 3-4 days to aggressively seek a regular job.

In the last several years I can count the number people on both hands that have asked me for a job...I offered two of them jobs...they never showed back up....out of the rest of them I'd say only 3 or 4 were serious...most of them just wanted to list us as an employer contact to turn in to the unemployment office.

The problem of illegal immigration is due to the immigrants being lured here to do jobs that Americans don't want to do. How many jobs is that that could have been paying jobs for Americans?...sure, you could say that the employers aren't paying them minimum wage, maybe some of the small farmers or growers are doing this but the companies that employee large numbers of people see too big of a penalty if they're caught not paying (and taxing) them properly. If there had been Americans working in those jobs to start with then the illegals could not have gotten such a foothold and cause such an expense to our infrastructures and services. Now, those people who are belly-aching about not having a job are the very ones who didn't want the jobs the immigrants are doing now....and apparently don't want the jobs now because they're not making a fuss about them...they're probably scared somebody will mention that.

I've started to reply several times about this, and probably should not have this time. The unemployment situation is bad, my business is suffering badly. I don't see the government coming to bail me out but I see it putting more and more regulations and mandates on me...they can push me to a point where I say to heck with it and let my guys (and me too) get on the unemployment bandwagon. Seeing the 99% showing their tails infuriates me and makes me wonder why I continue being a tax revenue source and why I don't become like them...but then that's the goal of socialism , eh?

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www.beeweather.comAmerican blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world. 320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror". Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA. But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

so...a few people with a good complaint, and thousands with their heads up their backside and their hands out for stuff, cost all of us the use of our parks, millions of dollars in damage and security cost, women were raped, people were killed..... the communists and socialist got some new recruits.....and wall street still stands.

you never were protesting against the right people, or protesting in the right place.

Just the opposite, there were thousands with a good complaint and a few that were engaging in criminal behavior. And all there really is to complain about is that everyone should pay there fair share of taxes. The rich shouldn't have to pay for everyone else, just their share. People like you love to label everyone communist or socialist when all they really want is to eliminate greed. Tax cuts for the wealthy don't provide jobs, if it did, there wouldn't be an "Occupy" to talk about.

I'd just like to see people treated, and taxed, as people - and corporations treated and taxed as corporations.I'll admit that corporations deserve the same rights and treatment as individuals....Just as soon as Texas manages to execute one.

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The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.- Marcus Aurelius -

The rich shouldn't have to pay for everyone else, just their share. People like you love to label everyone communist or socialist when all they really want is to eliminate greed. Tax cuts for the wealthy don't provide jobs, if it did, there wouldn't be an "Occupy" to talk about.

define "wealthy".

define "their share". you forgot the favorite liberal word "fair".

define "greed"

"people like me" do you mean people who started with nothing, worked hard, paid their own student loans, and achieved some measure of success...and see no reason for others not to do the same? if you need help, i can help you. it does mean doing without lots of stuff. no xbox, cell phone, turn down the heat and put on more clothes....stuff like that.

who does created jobs? BTW....the majority of the bush tax cuts went to the middle class. that's why obama chose not to end them. i'm sure he didn't know that in the beginning. he, too, spouts the liberal buzz crap about tax cuts for the wealthy.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

come on now, scads. when the 47% protest and ask for stuff, they are asking for their fair share. it's not greed to take what the "wealthy" have earned. where did you go to school anyway??

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....